Author's Note: sorry it took me a while to update. I have a week from hell coming up where all of my assignments are due. I hope you all enjoy!

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Blair was sleepy from the drugs Dad used to sedate her last night. I let her nap while I helped Mom look for the drugs. At least Blair wasn't crying anymore.

Mom tore her bathroom apart, and I searched through the bathroom down the hall. I opened up all the cupboards and pulled out everything inside. I opened up every box I saw, and I searched through them. I couldn't find any syringes anywhere.

"Any luck?"

I looked up to see Mom standing in the doorway. She sat down on the floor next to me. She reached into the cupboard and started looking with me.

"I don't even know what I'm looking for," I said.

"It's a black case," she said. "It has a zipper around it."

"I haven't seen it yet."

Mom reached over and put her hand on my knee. She tucked a piece of stray hair behind her ear with her other hand.

"Did Dad ever drug you?" I asked.

"Yeah," she said. "When your grandfather first took me, they would drug me every night. Your father wanted to do the same to Ava. He thought that it would calm her down, but we were running low."

"If Dad drugged Ava do you think she'd still be alive?"

"I can't say." Mom shrugged her shoulders. "She would have not been able to run away."

"Did you know Dad had left the door unlocked that night?"

"No. He told me that he couldn't sleep for a few nights and was awake. Looking back at it, that door must have been unlocked for nights."

"I wish we never tried to run."

"I want to say that your father is not the same man I fell in love with, but that would be a lie. He's the same. I knew this family was evil when I was brought here, and then they brainwashed me. I can't believe I defended them for so long. I'm sorry for bringing you into this."

"I don't blame you, Mom. This isn't your fault."

"I tried my best to talk him out of getting another girl, but it didn't work." Mom took her hand off of my knee and placed it on her bandaged wrist. "They'll have to kill me before they hurt anyone else."

There was a thud as someone hurried up the stairs. Leah came into the bathroom. She was breathing heavy, and holding her belly.

"They're coming inside," she said.

Mom and I picked everything up off of the floor and shoved it back into the cupboards. I grabbed one of the rolls of gauze and put it into my pocket.

"Don't come downstairs until I call you two down for dinner," Mom said before running out of the bathroom.

I took one last look at the bathroom to make sure we didn't leave anything behind. I turned off the light and hurried to my room. Blair was lying on my bed under a few blankets. She sat up when the door clicked shut behind me. She wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and scrambled to the edge of the bed.

"It's okay," I said. "It's just me."

"How long was I asleep for?" she asked.

"A few hours. My Dad and Jared are inside now."

Blair's fingers curled into the blanket. I sat down next to her, and pulled the gauze out of my pocket. She watched my fingers as I unraveled the roll.

"I'm going to put this around your arm," I said. "It's going to look like I have been punishing you."

Blair rolled her sleeve up and stuck her arm out. I grabbed her wrist and began to wrap it around her arm. I could feel Blair tremble as I touched her. I glanced up at her to see her teeth digging into her lip. Her eyes darted around the room before leaning in toward me.

"Did you find it?" she asked.

"No. My Mom and I looked and we couldn't find it," I said. Blair sighed and lowered her chin. "We'll find it. It's got to be in the house somewhere."

"Or it's in the truck."

"What do you mean?" I asked, tying the ends of the gauze together.

Blair rolled her sleeve down over the gauze. She brought her knees up to her chest, and wrapped her arms around them.

"Your Dad had his hand over my mouth, and dragged me to this truck," she said. "He threw me down onto the floor in front of the passenger's seat. He opened up the glove compartment and took out a needle from a case. He held me down and injected me."

"He used the same thing to sedate Ava and I," I said.

"He left me on the floor, and I watched him put that case back into the glove box. I don't remember anything after that, but what if those drugs are still in the truck?"

There was a light tap on the door, and Mom slid into the room.

"Come down to dinner," she said. "Your Dad seems like he is in a good mood."

I jumped off of the bed, and ran to Mom.

"Blair had an idea," I said in a whisper. "She thinks that the drugs are in the truck."

Mom raised her eyebrow as she thought about it. She bit down on her bottom lip and shook her head.

"We better hope it's not," she said. "We'll never be able to get it."

"Julie!" I heard Dad call Mom from downstairs.

"I have to go," she said. "Be down in a few minutes."

Mom left the room, and I grabbed the door before it closed. I peered down the hall and saw Dad standing at the top of the stairs. He said something to Mom, but I couldn't make out what it was. I could see Mom shake her head. He grabbed her wrist, and she let out a yelp. I remembered the bandage wrapped around her arm. He pulled her close to him before throwing her against the wall. Mom's shoulder hit the wall, and she slid to the floor. He stepped over her, and walked toward my room.

I closed the door, and ran over to the bed. Blair was sitting on the edge, and staring at the floor.

"Come on," I said. "He's coming."

"What?"

The door opened, and I felt my heart pound in my chest. I grabbed her arms, and hauled her up onto her feet. I looked up to see Dad had a smirk. I could feel Blair tremble and her eyes were wide and glistening with tears.

Trust me, I mouthed to her.

Blair nodded and took in a sharp breath. I slid my hand down to the wrist that I didn't wrap in gauze and pulled her behind me.

"How are you?" Dad asked.

"Good," he said. "Hunter, I want to talk to you."

"Go down and get dinner." I looked my shoulder at Blair. "I'll be down in a minute."

She nodded her head, and couldn't hurry out of the room fast enough. Dad let out a slight chuckle as he watched her scurry away. He rubbed the stubble on his jaw before turning to look at me.

"Have you been enjoying her?" he asked.

"Yeah," I said. I felt my stomach twist, but I knew I had to go along with these lies. "I see why Ava was a mistake now."

"Really?" he asked. "What's with this sudden change of heart? I thought it would take you a bit to warm up to her."

"Ava was too stubborn. Blair lets me do whatever I want to her."

"She doesn't fight back?"

"She screams and tries to hit me. It doesn't hurt. It's just annoying."

"I can show you how to tie her down," he said. "If you leave them like that for a few days, it usually sorts their attitude out. If she's screaming, do the family a favour and gag her for the night. No reason for us all to have to be awake all night."

My stomach continued to twist itself in a knot, and the lump in my throat grew larger. I glanced over my shoulder at the unmade bed. Dad had a smile plastered across his face. It disgusted me to think about the sick things he thought I did to Blair.

The only thing Dad has tried to bond with me over is killing and girls. I wonder if he was taught all of this by my grandfather. Did they spend hours learning how to tie down women? Did they share their techniques among each other on how to brainwash girls? Is that how Dad was able to break Mom's mind for so long? She spent years abused, and thought it was how her life was supposed to be. She finally broke free, and now was going to help us get out of here.

That's when the idea came into my mind. He wanted to bond over this, and I could use that to my advantage.

"I'm really tired from dealing with her all day," I told Dad. "Could I sedate her for the night? Like, if she does put up a fight after dinner, can I drug her?"

Dad scratched the back of his head, and I could tell that he was thinking about it.

"No," he said. "You need to learn how to control her. If she is fighting you all night for a few nights then maybe."

"I don't like her fighting against me," I said.

"Women are emotional," he said. "After she's settled, she'll still have outbursts, and you'll need to know how to manage them."

Dad reached out, and put his hand on my shoulder. He curled his fingers into my shirt, and another wave of nausea hit me.

"I'm proud of you, Hunter," he said. "Now, let's go down and get some dinner."

I followed Dad as he walked down the stairs. Mom, Leah, and Jared were sitting at the table eating. Blair had a pile of vegetables and potatoes on her plate and she was pushing them around with her fork. I sat down next to her, and I saw her squeeze her eyes shut as Dad walked around the table to his chair. He sat down and looked at Blair's plate.

"You're not having any meat?" Dad asked her.

"I told her she's not allowed to," I said. "Hopefully, going hungry will teach her some respect."

I threw my arm around her and pulled her closer to me. Blair's body went stiff, and I kissed the side of her temple. If Ava saw this, I hope she would know that this was all a lie.

"Julie, I was wrong," Dad said. "You didn't do a bad job raising our boy. He's a natural, once we got rid of that girl. This is the family I have always wanted."